


Together

by Carrollesque



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alliance, Alternate Ending, Canon Divergence, Canto Bight, F/M, Gay Space Communism, Grey Kylo Ren, Grey Rey, Short, Throne Room Scene
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-27 22:45:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13258185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrollesque/pseuds/Carrollesque
Summary: At a pivotal moment during TLJ, Kylo Ren and Rey decide to work together, not to rebuild the Republic or the Empire, but to reforge a new, just galaxy from the ashes of the old.





	1. Together

Rey hesitated.

“Rey. _Please_.” His tone was desperate. Almost pleading. “ _Join me_.”

They were both winded. The fight had taken its toll on both of them, but Ren was more experienced. He had the stamina. She needed time.

“And do what? Rebuild the Empire?” she spat back, surprised at the venom in her words, “You talk about letting the old world die, but you’re still clinging to it. A fantasy of who your grandfather was.”

His expression shifted, a look of confusion, shock. He hadn’t expected this. His thoughts raced. No. She’s wrong. This is the way it has to be. Isn’t it?

“N-no. I’d bury the First Order. The Empire. We’d make something new. Something better.” Ren stumbled over the words. She’d called his bluff.

Her expression softened a bit then, just around the corners of her mouth. Almost a smile. A sad smile. “You could have done it, you know. Accomplished what Vader never could. Build a galaxy free from hate. Free from war.”

“A galaxy free from oppression. Injustice.” He continued Rey’s thought. The fingers on his outstretched hand trembling.

Memories of her time on Jakku flashed in Rey’s mind. The daily, biting oppression. The starvation. The cruelty of greed and want and poverty. Had it not gone unchecked under the Republic? “Free from slavery. From inequality.”

With a soft click, she turned off her saber.

“It won’t be easy. We’ll have to fight.” The edge was still there, in his voice.

“We’ll have to negotiate. Persuade people. Inspire them to rise up.”

Ren nodded. “But we can do it. Together.”

At last, she took his hand in hers. “Together.”


	2. Blade of the Union

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months later, Kylo Ren, at Rey's direction, liberates the city of Canto Bight.

Canto Bight was burning. Ren walked through the city which had so lately been a shining symbol of the wealth, greed, and excess of both the Republic and Empire. A symbol of rotting continuation, a playground for the rich and powerful, unchanged, unmolested by decades of galactic strife. But that ended today.

Through smoke-filled streets, he could see the occasional blast of laser fire, hear the occasional shouts and groans of battle still being waged in back-alleys and through villas.

Rey’s plan had worked, of course. The populace, once inspired, had risen up, and with little more than aerial support and a few well-placed commando units, the Galactic Union had taken the city with surprisingly little force. The people of Canto Bight, the servants, the slaves, the downtrodden had taken back their city. Soon they would take back all of Cantonica. 

“Report for you, sir.” A smartly-dressed Union commando flashed him a quick salute as he walked through the city streets. Her hair was a tangled mess, pulled back in a loose braid, wrapped around the cuff of her scouting helmet. Alva Rosso, wasn’t it? A local of Canto Bight, she’d been instrumental in planning the operation that had lately been so successful. 

“What’s the report, Comrade?” Ren asked, returning her salute with one of his own. He still wasn’t used to the familiarity of these troops, but he supposed he’d have to get used to it, one way or another.

Her face broke into a toothy grin, “We’ve captured him, sir. The big prize. Ulfa Sorn. Some of the boys caught him trying to get away in a landspeeder. Lucky for us his chauffeur saw fit to short out the alignment matrix. Got about half a klick into the desert before the power converter gave out.”

Ren nodded approvingly. These commandos and their allies among the populace never failed to impress with their ingenuity. Sorn was captured. The city was theirs. It was time end this.

“Bring me to him,” Ren commanded. He caught himself, the imperious tone. Rey wouldn’t approve. “...comrade.”

Alva nodded. “Right this way, sir!” She gestured, a bit theatrically, to the bombed-out shell of a casino, it’s once-palatial grounds now peppered with fox-holes and smoking debris. She led Ren up the stairs, into the casino proper, glass crunching under boots.

Ulfa Sorn was held in the cashier’s booth, surrounded by stacks of now-worthless casino chips. _I suppose there’s_ _a poetic justice in that_ , Ren mused to himself. Alva nodded to two partisans standing guard at the makeshift stockade. They nodded back, unlocking the barred doors of the cashier’s box. There was the sound of a brief scuffle, then the two guards dragged Ulfa Sorn out by his arms onto the casino floor.

There was an echo of hooting jeers throughout the casino floor, as the partisans, rebels, and commandos who made up the Union’s forces gathered around. They sat on balconies and bar stools, stood on sabaac tables and broken slot machines, straining for a good seat to see how Kylo Ren would deal with their foe.

Sorn’s face was wrought with fury and anger, twisted in a piggish scowl as he was dragged before Ren. His finery was in tatters, still smudged with the dust and dirt of Cantonica’s desert. No doubt a product of his ill-fated attempt at escape.

“You’ll pay for this _Solo_ ,” Ulfa spat. “You and your whole damned Union. Kill me if you like, but you’ll never get another cruiser, fighter, or so much as a blaster out of Kuat-Entralla. You’ve made a powerful enemy here today-”

A shaking guffaw of laughter cut the corporatist off. The rebels jeered and laughed, apparently privy to some information. Ulfa’s brow writ in consternation. “What is so funny?! You think you can conquer the galaxy without our shipyards!?”

Kylo smiled. Here, again, was Rey’s genius at work.

“The workers and engineers of the Kuat Shipyards have decided to join the Galactic Union, Sorn. They have cast off their corp-sec overlords and confederated their own syndicate under our banner. The Ship Yards are quite operational, I assure you.”

The color drained from Sorn as he realized his final bargaining chip was spent. “W-wait. Just a moment. We can still come to terms, Ren. We served the First Order faithfully. I-I’m just a businessman! We can negotiate!" 

Idly, Ren flicked the switch on his lightsaber. It crackled to life, the flickering blue light dancing across Sorn’s terrified features.

“You had your chance to negotiate with the Union Council. With Rey. With General Organa. You did not make use of that opportunity. You’re not contending with diplomats and politicians anymore, Sorn.” 

As Ren raised his saber over his shoulder, the cheers of his soldiers and their allies intensified. Alva led a chant. Pumping her fist rhythmically over her head, as the call grew to a crescendo.

“BLADE OF THE UNION!” She called. 

“BLADE OF THE UNION!” came the echoing, thundering reply.

_This was it_. Ren thought. A purpose. A drive. What Skywalker and Snoke had promised, Rey had delivered. Not as a servant, or as an apprentice, but as an equal. His path was set, and nothing would turn him from it.

To echoing cheers, he brought down his blade. Rey’s blade. Their blade. The Union's blade.


End file.
